Evaluation of the boundary layer depth in semi-arid region of India

The annual variation in Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) height is determined from the profiles of conserved thermodynamic variables, i.e. virtual potential temperature θ_v, equivalent potential temperature θ_e and saturated equivalent potential temperature θ_es, using radiosonde data at Anand (23°35′N, 72°55′E, 45.1 m a.s.l.), India. Out of all the variables, the θ_v profile seems to provide the most reasonable estimate of the PBL height. This has been supplemented by T–Phi gram analysis for specific days. The analysis has been done for 00, 03, 06, 09 and 12 GMT for the 14th and 15th day of each month in the year 1997 based on LASPEX-97 data. In winters the height of boundary layer is very low due to subsidence and radiation cooling while heights in pre-monsoon months exhibit large variations.     

California Bearing Ratio and Brazilian Tensile Strength of Mine Overburden–Fly Ash–Lime Mixtures for Mine Haul Road Construction

The production and utilization of coal is based on well-proven and widely used technologies. Fly ash, a coal combustion byproduct, has potential to produce a composite material with controlled and superior properties. The major challenges with the production of fly ash are in its huge land coverage, adverse impact on environment etc. It puts pressure on the available land particularly in a densely populated country like India. In India the ash utilization percentage has not been very encouraging in spite of many attempts. Stabilization of fly ash is one of the methods to transfer the waste material into a safe construction material. This investigation is a step in that direction. This paper presents the results of an investigation on compressive strength and bearing ratio characteristics of surface coal mine overburden material and fly ash mixes stabilized with lime for coal mine haul road construction. Tests were performed with different percentages of lime (2, 3, 6 and 9%). The effects of lime content and curing period on the bearing ratio and tensile strength characteristics of the stabilized overburden and fly ash mixes are highlighted. Unconfined compressive strength test results cured for 7, 28 and 56 days are presented to develop correlation between different tensile strengths and unconfined compressive strength. Empirical models are developed to estimate bearing ratio and tensile strength of mine overburden–fly ash–quick lime mixtures from unconfined compressive strength test results.     

Application of geogrids in waste dump stability: a numerical modeling approach

Geosynthetic is widely used to reinforce the weak rock mass, mine waste dump, soil slopes road cut slopes, etc. The present paper discusses the effect of geogrids on the stability of mine waste dump. The stability of mine waste dump has been done by Fast Langrage Analysis of Continua (FLAC) slope software, which is based on finite difference method. Reinforcement by geogrids mainly depends on the tensile strength, aperture size of geogrids, and particle size distribution of dump rock mass. Different permutations and combinations of spacing between two geogrid sheets have been taken into consideration to study the stability of mine waste dump. The factor of safety is calculated to quantify the effect of geogrids on waste dump slope. It has been observed from numerical modeling that the maximum slope angle is 45° at a height of 10 m. The scope of increasing slope angle from 45 to 60° is evaluated using geogrids. It has been found from the study that the factor of safety increases as the spacing between geogrids decreases. Maximum strain is also plotted of each case to identify the slip circle. The positions of geogrids modify the probable slip circle or failure plane of mine waste dump. Using ten geogrids at a spacing of 1 m, the slope angle can be increased up to 60° with factor of safety of 1.4.     

Validation of RMR-based support design using roof bolts by numerical modeling for underground coal mine of Monnet Ispat, Raigarh, India—a case study

In underground coal mines, a lot of major fatalities have occurred due to roof fall in the newly developed faces or galleries of coal mines during the development or production of coal. There are around 500 underground coalmines in India, and continuous production or development or exploitation of coal depends upon the stability of the gateways developed in the form of galleries, which are supported in such a manner so that they can last up to that period, unless it has been finally extracted out with an operation called depillaring. A system of support design with roof bolting, resin bolting, and cable bolting for the aforesaid galleries is presently being decided on the basis of rock mass rating (RMR). The same support design has been attempted with the use of 3D numerical modeling technique—a tool nowadays very extensively used in geotechnical engineering to predict the stability of structures to be built or for the structures which are built against nature, i.e., underground mines. In this study, the support design system on the basis of RMR has also been validated with a numerical modeling technique for three locations of Monnet Ispat underground coalmine. After the study, it has been found that the numerical modeling technique can give better design of support system in underground coal mines in comparison with RMR-based support design system, and it will also play a major role in reducing the total cost incurred in coal exploitation from the underground coal mines.     

Late Pleistocene sedimentary history of multiple glacially dammed lake episodes along the Yarlung-Tsangpo river,southeast Tibet

We present a reconstructed lithologic column compiled from a series of lacustrine outcrops along a tributary of the Nyang River, a major tributary of the Yarlung-Tsangpo in southeast Tibet. The deposits were preserved between terraces at altitudes of 2950–3100 m asl. The stratigraphic record features at least two sets of coarsening-upward sequences depicting episodic aggradation and progradation of a glacially dammed lake related delta. Recognized facies changes illustrate the evolution cycles of depositional environments from pro-delta, delta front, to delta plain. Radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dates reveal an aging-downward trend in stratigraphic order and provide an approximate timeline for the formation of glacially dammed lakes in late Pleistocene. This result reflects that the Zelunglung Glacier had progressively advanced to block the Yarlung-Tsangpo river and the dam materials had stepwise stacked up to an altitude of 3095 m asl during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stages 4 to 2.     

Development of observation-based parameterizations of standard deviations of wind velocity fluctuations over an Indian region

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - The present study utilizes the turbulence observations over an Indian region, Ranchi, to study the diurnal and seasonal characteristics of mean and turbulent...     

Predicting elastic properties of schistose rocks from unconfined strength using intelligent approach

Elastic properties of rocks play a major and crucial role for the design of any engineering structure. Determination of elastic properties in laboratory is tedious, laborious, very time consuming, as well as expertise is required, whereas determination of uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and tensile strength in laboratory is simple, easy, and less expertise is required. Here, an attempt has been made to predict the elastic properties (Poisson’s ratio and Young’s modulus) of the schistose rocks from unconfined strength (UCS and tensile strength) using artificial neural network (ANN). A three-layer feed-forward back propagation neural network with 2-5-2 architecture was trained up to 855 epochs to predict the elastic properties of rock mass. The network was trained and tested by 120 data sets, and validation of the network was done by 20 new randomly selected data sets of UCS and tensile strength. The samples were collected from the schistose rocks of Nathpa-Jhakri hydropower project site, SJVNL, Himachal Pradesh, India. To check the validity and suitability of the artificial neural network technique, multivariate regression analysis (MVRA) is also performed, and comparison has been made. It was found that ANN gives closer values of predicted Poisson’s ratio and Young’s modulus as compared to MVRA. The coefficient of determination for Poisson’s ratio was 0.9809 and 0.843 by ANN and MVRA, respectively, whereas 0.9922 and 0.9362 for Young’s modulus by ANN and MVRA, respectively. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) for Young’s modulus is 11.13 and 28.21 by ANN and MVRA, respectively; whereas MAPE for Poisson’s ratio is 3.64 and 9.23 by ANN and MVRA, respectively.